<Note title="Restrictions for loading snapshots">

  * The snapshot must be from the same cluster and have the same unseal keys as
the current cluster.
  * You can only load one snapshot into a cluster at a time.
  * Vault automatically unloads snapshots 72 hours after they are loaded.
  * If your cluster's active node changes, the loaded snapshot's status updates
to `error` and it cannot be used for any recover operations. You must unload and
reload the snapshot to use it again.
  * You cannot load a snapshot if your cluster has
[mlock](/vault/docs/configuration#disable_mlock) enabled in its Vault configuration.

</Note>